Monthly Archives: October 2017

Organizational Discipline is the practice of self-restraint and learning to follow the best course of action which may not be ones’ desired.

Image credit: Colette

In team activities, where several individuals work towards a same goal, discipline is of utmost importance.

Organizations thrive on team work, and without discipline teams cannot functionproperly. It acts as the backbone of the organization structure and maintains order.

Organization discipline thus can be explained as system of conducting the organizationalproceedings by its members who abide by the guidelines laid out by the organization.

It imbibes a sense of obedience towards the organization that works instinctively under different circumstances.

Objectives of organizational discipline:

• Improving and uplifting teamwork so that goals can be reached

• Creating a sense of harmony among individuals by making them follow the same set of rules

• Improving the sense of tolerance among employees

Features of organizational discipline:

• Training that improves individuals morally and mentally

• Controlling the natural instincts in certain situations like high pressure

• Earn obedience by following a systematic method

• Preserve order

• Train by instructing and controlling

Types of organizational discipline

• Self-discipline – This is the ideal situation where the employees themselves are motivated enough to regulate their actions like time management, priority setting etc. and the organization does not have to put in any extra effort

• Task discipline – In this situation the employee has to be responsible enough to do their job in the best way possible by them.

• Group discipline – Group discipline is teamwork. Most jobs in an organization require to be worked upon by a team, so group discipline is very important.

Importance of organizational discipline

• Protection – Having a disciplined work force ensures that the work environment is peaceful and provides a sense of security

• Promotes appropriate behaviour – Following a set of conduct naturally makes sure that all employees exhibit behaviour fitting the company’s image

Objective of organizational discipline is to mould the behaviour of its workforce by training and instruction to better achieve its goals. It is the supervisor’s duty to explain to his subordinates the necessary areas of improvement. This promotes employee wellbeing.

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Opportunistic Managers are those managers who have self-serving bias and do some things favorable to their own interest instead of company’s interest.

Image Credit : Huffington Post

Managers in a company are generally well aware of the company’s operations and investments, in case of investment firms. So, whenever they get chance to multiply their wealth or have any kind of personal profit, they forget company’s interest and objectives.

Opportunistic managers either benefit themselves or their relatives/friends from inside information of the company.

Managers serving their own interest is a common agency-principle problem. In agency-principal businesses, managers are the agents and owner is the principal. The job of the managers is to multiple owner’s wealth but many times the managers could not align themselves with the principal’s interest and focus on multiplying their own wealth instead. This generally happens if owner does not participate in managers’ performance evaluations or regulations. No monitoring or avoidance can lead to loss of business.

This problem can be tackled by ways like:

1. Sharing profit with employees: If the profit is earned by managers’ work and it is shared as per profit margins to the managers, it will keep them motivated to work more in company’s interest. Managers would think to increase company’s wealth if it would have direct impact in their salary.

2.Monitoring of managers’ work: Monitoring of mangers’ or agents’ work can create questions on decisions taken more for self-interest than company’s interest by the managers or agents respectively. The fear of being caught can restrict them from doing so. Hence, owner or board of directors or whoever is the lead holder of the business should monitor managers time to time.

Example of Opportunistic managers:

A manager is named as Mr. John and working in company X. This the end of financial year and evaluations of earrings and profit is going on in company X. The more profit a unit has earned, the more hike the manager of that unit would get. Mr. John twist the numbers in the financial report of his unit just to earn get hike, although it is misleading for the company.

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Operating conditioning is a type of learningcoined by BF Skinner that is based on the premise that learning occurs through consequences of their actions.

Image Credit: Reference for Business

A desirable behaviour can be enhanced or repeated through positive reinforcementwhereasunwanted behaviour can be eliminated through punishment.

BF Skinner tested this theory using a lab rat that was put into a cage. By pressing a lever in the cage the rat would receive a treat.

Once the rat had learnt the purpose of the lever, it would directly reach for the lever when put into the cage. This portrayed that positive reinforcement could help develop repeated behavior. Later another rat was put into a different cage. The second cage however was built to give a small electric shock when the lever was pushed. When the rat learnt of the punishment it did not repeat the behaviour of pressing the lever again.

The advantage of using operant conditioning is that organizations can motivate their employees through positive reinforcements. This could include incentive, bonuses and other benefits linked to the performance of the individual. Similarly they can also controlundesired behaviour through punishment such as demotion, although most successful organizations use the former.

A Disadvantage however is that motivation is only gained through external factors such as a bonus. When the organization stops giving bonuses the desired behaviour will also eventually stop. Therefore Operant conditioning is not a permanent motivator.

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Open Book Management (OBM) is a philosophy wherein a company shares all its financial and operational information (critical data) with all the employees and expects them to align themselves with company’s goals such that the overall performance of the organization is enhanced.

This way, the employee considers himself as a company’s stakeholder rather than just a ‘hired worker’, and hence takes the responsibility to drive the company towards its goals.

– Sharing all the information with the employees to maintain transparency

– Empowering them to use the information to build company’s growth prospects

– Treating them as business partners and sharing profits as well as the risk for losses

Example:

Springfield Remanufacturing Corp (SRC), a US based company initially incurred losses of $61000 on revenue of $16 million. The management then decided to share all the company’s information with all the employees, which in turn, made the employees realize what needs to be done in such a crisis. With the implementation of OBM, the company went on to make profits of $12 million a year on the revenue of $160 million.

Allstate’s Business Group saw its return-on-equity rise from 2.9% to 16.5% in three years after the implementation of OBM

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Observation interview is defined as the process of observing certain employees in a firm while they are performing their respective jobs and tasks given at a certain time, these observations are then utilized to gather data regarding specific jobs and tasks.

Image Credit : Constant Credit

There is different type of observation interviews: –

1.Direct (Reactive) Observation

During direct observation the interviewer knows that somebody is watching and evaluating his/her performance. There are two types of direct observations.

Continuous Monitoring- as the name suggests it requires continuous monitoring through behavior or body language of the individual.

Time Allocation- It allows a researcher to randomly allocate selecting a place and certain time

2. Unobtrusive Observation

Unobtrusive observation involves certain methods and ways for studying behavior of an individual where the individual does not know that he/she is being observed during the interview. This only problem with this method is that standardization needs to be maintained during each interview conducted for all the individuals to ensure fairness and transparency.